Tip-Top
Tip-Top was a robot which competed exclusively in Series 5 of Robot Wars. In its only appearance, it lost in the first round to Bigger Brother, after being flipped out of the arena. Tip-Top would later attempt to enter Series 6, but would ultimately fail to qualify. The robot's name comes from its unusual locomotion (see Design). Design Tip-Top was a blue, dark grey and yellow box-shaped robot armed with a horizontal substantial inertia flywheel, driven by a 72cc petrol disc cutter engine. It was fitted with a pair of actuators that could raise the robot by about 40mm from either upright or inverted positions. The disc's axle was rounded on both the top and bottom, and long enough to touch the arena floor, which enabled the disc to balance on the floor like a spinning top, regardless of where the robot was positioned. Tip-Top was unique in that it did not have drive motors to power its rear wheels. When the disc was spinning at full speed, the actuators could be fired to tip the disc mechanism, and the resultant gyroscopic forces from the dome pressing against the ground would move the robot. This form of locomotion inspired the robot's name, and was unique among Robot Wars competitors. However, besides being potentially flammable due to its use of a petrol engine, Tip-Top's drive system proved slow and very unresponsive, contributing to its early defeat in its only appearance. Qualification Tip-Top successfully qualified for Series 5 after defeating Cerberus in its qualifier. Unchanged from its Series 5 form, it then attempted to enter Series 6, but failed to qualify due to reliability issues preventing it from fighting in the qualifiers. In its first qualifier, Tip-Top was originally due to fight King B Powerworks, but its petrol engine stalled just before the battle, so the team withdrew from the fight. The Tip-Top team were given a second chance to fight, this time against Robochicken, but the engine stalled again just as the battle started, resulting in Tip-Top losing and failing to qualify.Report on the Sixth Wars Qualifiers from the archived Tip-Top website Robot History Series 5 As a series newcomer, Tip-Top competed in Heat I of the Fifth Wars, where it faced Bigger Brother in the first round. At the start of the battle, it shuffled back and forth near the Floor Flipper to try and get its flywheel up to speed, and turned away from Bigger Brother as the latter came on the attack. However, Bigger Brother pushed and flipped Tip-Top over seconds later, with Tip Top slowing turning round before getting pushed and thrown against the wall by Bigger Brother. After being left stranded on the wall for a few seconds, Tip-Top was then thrown out of the arena by Bigger Brother, and eliminated from the Fifth Wars. Results |} Wins/Losses *Wins: 0 *Losses: 1 Series Record Outside Robot Wars After its appearance on Robot Wars, a robot identical to Tip-Top in design can be seen brandishing the name "Tip Bottom". It is unclear whether this was simply a decorated Tip-Top or a direct successor, although the robot appears functionally no different. References Category:UK Series competitors Category:Robots Thrown out of the Arena Category:Robots from Hampshire Category:Robots with Horizontal Flywheels Category:Invertible Robots Category:Robots Thrown out of the Arena in their only appearance Category:Robots which debuted in Series 5 Category:Robots which lost their only battle Category:Robots which only fought in Series 5